Press release: BT expands data centre capacity in Benelux

BT today announced the expansion of its data centre capacity in the Benelux region with a new facility in Rotterdam. This expansion will increase BT’s IT services capacity in the region by almost 50 per cent when the centre becomes operational in spring 2014. The new centre addresses the growing customer demand for hosted and managed networked IT services and cloud-based applications that BT serves through its portfolio of BT Compute service offerings.

The new high-density facility will complement BT’s current data centres located in Amsterdam and Nieuwegein. BT’s clients will benefit from automated delivery of virtualised server and storage capacity, or choose to set up their own dedicated equipment in the secure data centre environment.

The centre will be directly connected to BT’s global network via a variety of network technologies. It further strengthens BT’s ability to serve global customers via its network of more than 45 data centres located around the world. Combined with BT’s capability to deliver voice services, the site is ideally placed to support the BT One portfolio of unified communications and collaboration tools, such as Microsoft Lync 2013 or Cisco’s Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS).

Joris van Oers, chief executive officer, BT Benelux, said: “As business processes become more connected across industries, and as mobility has become a standard requirement with ubiquitous real-time access to data and applications, we have seen a major surge in demand for secure, resilient and cost effective managed services. This has been confirmed in a recent study that found that close to 65 per cent of Benelux executives foresee that the increasingly mobile lifestyle of employees and customers will soon become the number one driver for accelerating business processes1.

Yet while demand is increasing, the IT departments are required to do more with less whilst safeguarding valuable company data. Cloud-based solutions can effectively respond to these challenges, and most companies are moving to a hybrid-cloud model; utilising public cloud services while simultaneously building their own private cloud infrastructure. By combining our data centre facilities with our networked IT portfolio and our BT Advise team of professional services experts, we are in an ideal position to help our customers get the best out of the cloud with the highest security standards.”

The new data centre will meet the European “Code of Conduct on Data Centres Energy Efficiency”. In support of BT’s Dutch Energy Efficiency Plan (EEP) 2013-2016, the ambition is to reach an Energy Usage Effectiveness (EUE) level of merely 1.2 – or even lower2. To make this possible, the data centre will use efficient power supplies, a state-of-the-art energy management and cooling system, as well as integrated electrical and mechanical solutions.

As part of its new Better Future strategy, BT’s goal is to help customers reduce carbon emissions by at least three times the end to end carbon impact of its own business by 2020. BT invested £27 million in the fiscal year 2012-13 to support its commitment to being a responsible and sustainable business. BT aspires to improve its overall energy efficiency in the Netherlands by 45.7 per cent by the end of 2016.

1“Real-Time Economy - Promise and potential of instant processes for a better future” – published October 2013. Carried out by Experton Group AG on behalf of BT.2This means that for each Watt of IT power, only 0.2 Watts (or less) of additional energy will be needed for installations such as for emergency power supplies and cooling. Older data centres generally have EUEs of 2.0 and more.

By combining our data centre facilities with our networked IT portfolio and our BT Advise team of professional services experts, we are in an ideal position to help our customers get the best out of the cloud with the highest security standards.”- Joris van Oers, chief executive officer, BT Benelux.

Additional notes for technology editors

BT will be providing a comprehensive portfolio of managed hosting and cloud services from the new data centre. These include, for example, the provision of pre-configured and fully maintained Windows or Linux servers, storage capacity and a series of applications ("Software as a Service”, SaaS) such as Microsoft Lync and Cisco HCS, e-mail and collaboration services and security services.

The data centre's failover safety corresponds to the category tier III+. To achieve the maximum possible failover safety (tier IV), IT applications can be distributed over other BT sites in the Netherlands or abroad. BT has more than 45 data centres for managed hosting and cloud applications worldwide.

IT resources can be linked to customers' locations via the international BT network, which is available in more than 190 countries/territories, through MPLS, Ethernet, Internet or SDH. The new BT data centre will also provide telehousing capacities for corporate clients and other network operators.

The new high-density facility initially offers a server area (rack space) of up to 1,200 square metres with a maximum capacity of 2.400 kW. It can support 6 kW per rack as standard (and significantly more on request).

About BT

BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.

For the year ended 31 March 2013, BT Group’s reported revenue was £18,103m with reported profit before taxation of £2,315m.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.